5 Books About Celebrities

Read all about scandal, success, and stardom.

By David Podgurski

Steve Martin supposedly said: “A celebrity is any well-known TV or movie star who looks like he spends more than two hours working on his hair.” This might be true. At any rate, here’s a look at a handful of titles investigating such phenomenal figures and the phenomena of which they are part. Note: the books will probably take more than two hours of reading…

Marilyn Monroe is the ultimate, indelible star, referenced in all media, whether with regard to her career, life, image, past or, well, considerable endowments. Her most enduring work, to me, is her still photography, though: One understands how she simply “got” cameras, and how the camera loved her (Christopher Nickens and George Zeno’s book also brings out her incredible impact on glamour).

Graeme Turner’s interesting look at those in the spotlight is a very comprehensible and smart investigation of the “cult” that develops within, around and in the swirling social-media spheres that inundate celebrity culture. Like a short course in understanding why Us Weekly, Access Hollywood, TMZ and the like thrive—and always will.

This book is made possible, perhaps, only by celebrity culture. Russell Simmons is now making a ton of money off of this title, and, apparently helping a LOT of people, but honestly, to me, it’s more a curiosity or byproduct of the thinness of our thinking with regard to meditative well-being than succeeding through meditating via stillness.

Bravo’s Real Housewives is a phenomenon. …Well, it was either that or a Kardashians’s book. I had to go there! Get bowled over by Caroline Manzo, everything she does, and the gold she’s spun from her reality TV mega-fame. I know I was.

He was once simply the greatest fighter in the ring. Now, Mike Tyson’s a far more complex figure, a bit of a victim of celebrity, while at the same time, a bizarrely fascinating voice who made the beds in which he has lain. This autobio, whether you like Tyson, or hate him, is completely worth your time.